Tulia Talks Back

Thelma Johnson

I think the documentary was true and to the point and was a fair portrayal of what people felt.

After the sting, some of the white people in town said, "This is wrong." And, after everyone got out of prison, many people have said, "I'm glad they've got this straightened out." But others feel that the grassroots activists in Tulia disgraced the town. I was one of those activists who decided to get involved because I knew what happened was wrong. And I feel that they disgraced their town by allowing this to happen. Even if everyone had been a drug dealer, the time didn't fit the crime. I've seen murderers get less time. 

There isn't a town in America that doesn't have some racism, and racism goes both ways. But when you single out a group of people as drug dealers; that really got me. Forty-six drug dealers in Tulia, Texas…in one community? Who were they selling to?  Out of the 46 arrested, there might have been seven car owners in that group. Now how could all those people be dealing when they didn’t even own cars? Are they walking from house to house and dealing? I haven’t seen or heard anyone try to sell drugs to any fifth graders. But if that woman juror in the film says she saw it, I can’t say she didn’t. But I never saw that in the black community; I never saw anyone selling drugs to little kids.

We may have had some addicts in Tulia; that is a sickness and the states should have places for people to go. But they've taken all these rehabilitation centers away in Texas and everywhere else. You better be rich if you want to go to rehab, because you'll pay dearly for it.

I wouldn't say that Tulia is any more racist than any other town. Each community keeps to itself and that's no different than any other small town in America.  You don't see a black face in the bank or office or a big business (although I can't say for sure if any have applied for those jobs). But you will see blacks working at the grocery store.  

In Tulia, everyone seems to go on now. I don’t think people have changed. There was always good and bad in Tulia and there were always white people who saw you as an underclass and some white people who would treat you nicely. And there were black people who would do the same. So you can’t say that everyone is racist or prejudiced.

When this man [former undercover agent Tom Coleman] made his list, he wanted an easy mark and he found it in the black community. It’s a small and poor community, so it was an easy mark. If I could make money that easy by just writing some names down I’d do it too; that’s some easy money. I thank God for Judge Ron Chapman [who presided over the court of criminal appeals] because he was fair and honest and he listened to what was going on and let everything come out. So hats off to Chapman!

Thelma Johnson
Tulia Resident for 52 years and a founding member of Friends of Justice

Hear from Doyle Ozment, an investigator in the Tulia Police Department >>